


In the Silence

by Princex_N



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Mute Dirk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-16 10:32:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2266443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princex_N/pseuds/Princex_N
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It isn't like you've never heard sound before, there's all sorts of noises around here. The ocean is fucking loud, seagulls are loud, the tools you use are loud, you're not unfamiliar with sound. But these sounds? You've never heard them before. You don't know what's going on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Silence

**Author's Note:**

> I read a fic, and I can't remember what the fuck it is so I'm gonna have to go hunting, where Dirk couldn't speak because he'd never heard people speak and I just..

They want you to video chat with them. 

You say yeah because why the hell wouldn't you want to? There isn't anything in the immediate area that would incriminate you as being from the future, so there really isn't anything to worry about. 

You don't know why photos aren't good enough anymore though. Maybe there's something special about seeing people move? You don't know, you don't really care, you just want to make them happy and this is something that you can do before everything goes to shit. 

Jane sends you a download link for the client and you're ready to go. You open it when they tell you to, and it turns out that their attitudes are catching, because you're a little excited. 

Then there are sounds and you're confused. 

It isn't like you've never heard sound before, there's all sorts of noises around here. The ocean is fucking loud, seagulls are loud, the tools you use are loud, you're not unfamiliar with sound. But these sounds? You've never heard them before. You don't know what's going on. 

Jane and Jake are looking at you, and they aren't smiling. Shit, that means something's wrong right? You don't know. 

GG: Dirk are you alright?

GT: Yeah chum! I thought for sure that you would speak the most!

What? 

TT: No I can't speak.

What the hell are you supposed to say? You weren't anticipating this. This is literally the opposite of what you were anticipating, you didn't even know that people spoke. You spend all of your time building robots and fucking fishing, you write to people. You can read like nobody's business but throw in a wrench like speaking and you fall apart.

You pull up another window because you aren't sure how to respond to Jane and Jake's influx of messages.

TT: Roxy.   
TT: Roxy I need you right now.   
TG: what  
TT: Can you 'speak'?  
TG: yeah of cousr i can  
TG: duh   
TG: everyobe can s what yoru vocla vhorsd re for  
TG: *vocal *chords  
TT: Roxy.   
TT: I can't speak.  
TT: I didn't know that was a thing people did.  
TG: re you fkcung with me?  
TT: No!  
TT: Where exactly was I supposed to hear about this?  
TG: dued  
TG: how did this evebn come up  
TT: I'm video chatting with Jane and Jake.  
TT: Roxy what do I do?  
TG: uhg  
TG: tell tem youre mtue  
TG: mute*

You switch back to Jane and Jake and you can see them both staring at you with a weird expression. Fuck. They could see you this whole time.  
TT: I'm mute.  
Their features slacken.  
GT: Oh! Well that's no problem!  
GG: Yeah Dirk! That's okay!  
GG: A little unexpected sure.  
GG: But okay!  
TT: Thanks guys.

You keep talking to them, typing to them. They're speaking and you don't understand what the fuck they're saying, but they still type enough that you get the drift. You really need to work on this, but you don't know how.

Roxy sends you videos, all sorts of videos, you have videos leaking out of your ears. You have no idea how this thing works, the only time you've ever made noises were small ones expressing emotions. You can also make some pretty sick bird calls, but that's just because you were bored. 

You're trying, and you have a pretty basic understanding of how the noises sound after a few weeks. At least you knew how to read, so it's not like you're learning an entire new language, but you're still having a lot of trouble getting your voice to sound right. Every word you try to form comes out raspy and thready, and your words don't sound the same as they do in the videos. 

You tried to get Roxy to help you out, but her words don't sound like the ones in the videos, or Jane or Jake's. It sounds all soft and pushed together. 

So you talk to yourself instead. You spend hours talking, you narrate pretty much everything that you do just so that you can practice. Your voice slowly starts to sound right, stronger and deeper, and you're finally able to manipulate the words so that they aren't butchered and unintelligible. 

You don't feel like it's enough though, and so you start to build a robot. 

Jake told you about rapping a while ago, and you hadn't really understood because you couldn't hear any rhythm in the words that he sent you because you didn't know what the words sounded like. But now that you do understand rhyming, it's something you're willing to get into.

That's what Squarewave is for.

He dishes out simple rhymes, simple raps, and his voice is pieced together from the videos and sound files that Roxy sent you. His sensors are based off of those too, so it takes a while for you to even get into rapping with him because he can't understand you for a long time. Once you finally even out your voice though, you're set and ready and it doesn't take you long at all to be able to start winning.

Once you're winning every single battle against him, you build Sawtooth.

Unfortunately, while you're working your ass off to learn to speak, you're not spending a lot of time with your friends. Roxy knows what you're up to, but Jane and Jake don't and they've both messaged you with varying degrees of concern because you haven't been messaging back.

That's why you build the autoresponder.

You talk to him too.

-

They don't ask you to video chat again, but when the game starts it's obvious that they still remember that you supposedly can't talk. They talk in awkward circles around you, and you aren't sure what to do because you're terrified that maybe you messed up somewhere along the way and you sound weird.

AR tells you to suck it up and just fucking talk to them already before they hurt themselves trying to figure out what to do with you.  

"Hey guys." you say finally, forcing the words out of your mouth, and all three of them freeze and look at you. 

Roxy just smirks and raises an eyebrow and you ignore her in favor of watching Jane and Jake. Both of their faces are wide with surprise. 

"What?" they say together, and you force yourself to smirk. "I thought you said that you couldn't speak!!" 

You raise an eyebrow, "What? You guys thought that I was serious?" you ask. You don't have the pitch range that they do, it gets higher when they're surprised, are you supposed to do that too? Shit. You don't know. You're watching them carefully for any hint of a clue, and you make a mental note to ask Roxy about it later. 

But they both start to laugh. You panic for a moment. 

"Wow! I can't believe we both fell for that!" Jake crows, "You really did an excellent job chap!" 

Your smirk remains in place, your expression doesn't waver, but you internally let out a figurative sigh of relief.

Maybe one day you'll tell them the truth, but for now, you don't have to.

They don't know and your secret is safe.

For now you can be normal.  

**Author's Note:**

> Chances are he heard people talking. Alpha Dave was supposed to have left videos or movies or some shit right? Whatever. I like it.  
> When will my ability to write a decent ending return from war?  
> [Tumblr](http://www.princex-n.tumblr.com)


End file.
